Birthday celebrations at Kimbo Rocks & 717 Durians!

Birthday celebrations for pal, LL at Kombi Rocks located at Yio Chu Kang Road!
If you loved VW pastel coloured vans or we affectionately called them "面包車", you will love this place as they have a fleet of them parked just outside their eatery.

The nostalgic and pretty cosy interior of Kombi Rocks. A pretty small set-up and if you are having a bigger group, it's better to make an advance booking first.

For first-timers like us, we would take this opportunity to check out the place. I love the fact that it was sun-set during this time and the place was lighted in orangery hues!
The vehicles are for rental too .. not cheap though, for wedding couple who wanted something special and have deeper pockets.

 

Some lovely vintage cars ....

The exquisite interior of a vintage car.

A photo with our Birthday girl!

The food is pretty much like Zhi Char style ... nothing really fanciful ...

Delicious durian cake bought by Fang on our behalf for the birthday girl...

The guitars, photo frames, posters aligned at the wall really made a great backdrop for any photo!

717 Trading is just one bus-stop away from Kombi Rocks! Durians craving time!
When we reached there, a long queue has already been formed!

Yeah, finally, it was our turn to buy the durians!

Mao Shan Wang durians! Every seed was perfect and the flesh was thick and fragrant with every bite! Indeed, this was the best quality durians I have ever tasted ! Of course, these "top of the cream" durians come with a price! It was really worth it! The durians I used to buy from really pale in comparison after trying 717 quality durians!

Satisfied faces ! 贊!

Voucher makan time at Ah Yat Restaurant !

My cousin has bought 4 dining voucher for my mum's birthday at Ah Yat Restaurant. We decided to join my cousin for a dim sum session at the branch near Jurong Bird Park.

Just 2 snaps of the dim sums we have ordered. Frankly, I prefer this Jurong Bird Park branch, the dim sum was much fresher and the restaurant looks more pleasant.

Bringing my newly bought wide-angle lens (a present from CK) along with me for the first time to take some photos.

Thanks to my cousin for the wonderful time spent with some of my loved ones!
It would be a shame if we departed ways after lunch immediately. I suggested to Ah Gu that we should made a trip to Jurong Hill ...

It just took less than 3 minutes by car from Ah Yat to Jurong Hill Park.
From this angle using the wide angle lens, they seems to have longer legs ....

Finally, able to capture the entire building ! Loving my wide-angle lens!

I've brought Nikon 50mm prime lens along ... have some fun taking portraits to mark this gathering.

The ladies having a good time "strolling" the spiral platform to the top of the tower!

View taken the top of the spiral building ...Jurong island...and industrial buildings! We were blessed, it was a hot day but occasionally there was strong breeze ... it was quite nice to just stand still and enjoyed some quiet moments.

It was such a fantastic and quality time spent with my family ...

Happy National Day!

Who doesn't love public holidays? It was a well-deserved day away from work to rest and to be with your loved ones! Personally, I love the Public Holiday Eve even better! There is no need to sleep early for work tomorrow and the anticipation of a whole day rest the next day! It also happened to be Hari Raya Haji holiday too ... a truly long holiday .. blissful.

Nothing was better than bringing Jojo for a walk at the park. To see his little angelic face so happy really warmed our hearts!

There seems to be quite a lot of people n the park as well ... Jojo was well exercised and that made him quite happy. Looking forward to more PH :)

Mum, Fourth Aunt and Gab's brithday!

I was cracking my head how we can celebrate my mum's birthday. A quiet affair with just our parents ? A birthday diner with my parents and Ah G's family ? Or a party with some relatives ?

In the end, I opted to celebrate mum's birthday with the relatives. There are some relatives which we have been close to when we were kids but have drifted apart over the years. I thought it will be great to gather each other to catch up with one another.

I was also thinking how to liven up the place ... sweet helium strawberry shortcake balloons should be lovely. You should see my mum's face lighted up when she saw the lovely balloons!

The dining room was "flooded" with the balloons. While waiting for the rest to arrive, we took the opportunity to take some photos.

Jojo was too distracted by the balloons!

 

Cakes bought by my cousin, Sharon from Prime Deli which were delicious! Frankly, I love their cakes !

Time to sing Happy Birthday songs to our Birthday girls ! And posed ! They were gamed !

The kids looked tired though .... waiting patiently to eat the cakes!

Finally, a photo with the cousins!

It was a tiring day, nonetheless, it was a rare opportunity to gather most together.

May & June babies (Birthday at M Hotel)

Combining the May and June birthday boys and girls for their celebrations at M Hotel ! We have buffet steamboat!

A Victorian cake baked for the occasion. I wasn't too happy with the cake this time. It appeared to be harder and the jam was too sweet! Nonetheless, I hope my friends don't mind that much.

Have a great birthday to all ....

Our two little sweet helpers ...

Ah Mi popian and a surprise birthday

The ladies are much in love with MIL's home-made popian. They wanted to learn from the Master chef herself and we arranged a date at her home to do so.

Upon MIL's rough estimation of the number of ingredients to be bought, each of us were responsible to bring them over to her house. In the olden days, the folks rely on trails and errors over the years to get the right taste of the food. They do not have any written down recipes passed down from their own mothers or the money to buy a recipe book from the bookstall. Anyway, most were not educated and hence, not able to read even if they have the recipe with them.

Nowsaday, we were so fortunate being able to follow recipes from cookbooks or even on-line recipes to cook o bake stuff.

We have a lot of fun cutting up the ingredients tough. As the process can be quite tedious and time consuming, it is always good to have everyone to chip in to speed up the cutting process. Most of the ingredients for popians needed to be cut into slices, cubes or to be shredded. Most of the popian that were sold outside have less ingredients, Ah Mi's popian consists of many ingredients which made her popian very popular among relatives and my friends! And the grounded chilli padi that goes with it was super spicy which some might find it rather challenging!

It also happened to be Ah Mi's birthday ... we decided to spring her a surprise! I can tell hat she has a wonderful time with my friends. It is a blessing that all them know hokkein and mandarin and it really made it easier to communicate with her. Thank you to my friends who made this gathering such a wonderful one.

Not long before this popian session, Ah Mi has given up on her weekly cooking for the family due to her arthritis condition. This lady has cooked for her family almost her whole life and I thought it was also time that she has some free time for herself. This is also a good opportunity for the rest of the family members to do our part to bring her weekly for dinner or lunch.

My first malay wedding!

I was so looking forward to my first malay wedding lunch even though it fell on our 20th year anniversary! It was hard to imagine that this is my first malay wedding invitation after all these years as I do not have many malay friends or colleagues till now.

 The malay wedding was held in a community center. Guests greeted the parents of both bride and bridegroom at the doorway. You are allowed to choose any table to sit ... food is buffet style with rendang beef, mutton, fish etc ... yum yum

And some desserts if you like ...

We arrived much earlier than the rest .... we shifted tables like 2 times before we finally settled at a table on the right wing of the hall!

 The big beautiful decorated stage .... guests are allowed to take photos with the couple ...

The beautiful bride will arrive first ... she will have to wait patiently for her bridegroom to come ...

The handsome bridegroom finally arrived ... the ceremony was lively with dancers and blessings from the dance troop.

A group photo with my colleagues together with bride and the bridegroom!

K's Birthday at Spruce!

Over the years, there are more cafes tucked away from the busy areas. Yes, away from the nearest MRT and malls, cafes that require a bit of effort and inconvenience to get to but they promises a more natural setting and less noise!

Spruce at Phoenix Park in Tanglin is probably a venue which my friends said that it is difficult to get to. Hopefully food & ambiance made up for "tedious" journey that they have to "endure" .. just a little joke here. Reservations is strongly recommended if you are dining at Spruce. We waited for a good 30 minutes before being shown to a table.

 A refreshing cooling beverage for a hot afternoon date! Did not regret ordering this! Instantly, you feel re-energized! (yes, especially waiting for 30 minutes!)

Spruce Ahi Tuna Tartar with Toasted homemade ciabatta & fresh avocado. The platelet looked very pretty except the heap of raw tuna which I did not attempt to try as I prefer raw salmon to tuna. Thank God that K and HS enjoyed it!

 Spruce Burger  with Homemade pickles, cheddar cheese & herbed fries, my all-time favourite dish to order in Spruce!

 

 Spruce Signature Salad  with Avocado, corn, dates, corn bread, goat cheese, Momotaro tomato & almonds. It took a little courage to eat the goat cheese for the ladies. However, if you have taken a small bite of the goat cheese with some of the salad, the overall taste was heavenly !

 This pancake was  pretty good especially the generous nuts and fruits ...

 

American Apple Pie Ala Mod, a more traditional desserts which is still a favourite among some.

Happy Birthday K ! Hope you have enjoyed the celebration with us!

Not forgetting a group photo before we departed ...